Us all having been new members once (yes, even me, with my blue username), we all know what it can be like being a member with posts in only single or double figures. Seeing all the 6000-posters posting in seemingly every thread, knowing everyone's first name and having a million GTFA badges in their signature can be intimidating. You might feel like you're not heard and it can be difficult making friends when everyone already knows each other. As part of a recent drive to make new members feel more welcome, we would like to hear more from you.

You've just joined. Maybe you spent a few weeks looking around this place and deciding whether or not it was worth your time; maybe you clicked "Register" after being on the site for two seconds. Now that you're here, you might've made an introduction thread or posted in self pics. Hopefully you've had a warm welcome from our members here, and you're enjoying using the forum and all the great things it offers. If there's been anything you've noticed that you think could be improved though, we'd like to know. We have three key questions for you to consider:

What made you want to join in the first place?

Was there anything that made you not want to join?

What changes could we make to the site to make you feel more welcome as a new member?

If you would prefer to respond to these questions over a private message to myself, or any other moderator or admin, feel free to do so by clicking the PM link below. To find links to the other moderators' profiles, check this thread.

Also, if you're new, this thread is very worth having a read through.To established members: please don't post in this thread. While your opinions have been very valuable in the other thread, we were concerned that new members were not making their voices heard as much as they could be, while their input is just as insightful and useful. Thanks!

I was looking for a decent forum to talk to other gay teens. I am from a small (only about 800 people) southern town and trust me, not many gay teens around here. Not only am I gay but deaf as well. (not looking for sympathy, just friends) Everyone has been super friendly and have truly made me feel welcome. I thank you all, or y'all as we say it in the southern US!

Thank you for the welcome, but you made a mistake, I have the schools record for detentions all for talking in class, now you just gave me permission to talk as much as I want, that is one big mistake, I even talk in my sleep, well mum says I do any way.

The reason I started to look around the net was trolls, sex mad mere males, lies tricks and imposters. I found a few nice places, shoe and girlsweb being the best, but this place is some thing different, it small polite nice and friendly, that is a first on the web for me, well I don’t go to stamp collecting sites much do I.

Thank you for this place, and almost every one in it, sorry that was a joke, a very bad one, you will either get used to my humour, or have a brain storm and make a shrink very rich.

leona wrote:Thank you for the welcome, but you made a mistake, I have the schools record for detentions all for talking in class, now you just gave me permission to talk as much as I want, that is one big mistake, I even talk in my sleep, well mum says I do any way.

The reason I started to look around the net was trolls, sex mad mere males, lies tricks and imposters. I found a few nice places, shoe and girlsweb being the best, but this place is some thing different, it small polite nice and friendly, that is a first on the web for me, well I don’t go to stamp collecting sites much do I.

Thank you for this place, and almost every one in it, sorry that was a joke, a very bad one, you will either get used to my humour, or have a brain storm and make a shrink very rich.

daylen1 wrote:I was looking for a decent forum to talk to other gay teens. I am from a small (only about 800 people) southern town and trust me, not many gay teens around here. Not only am I gay but deaf as well. (not looking for sympathy, just friends) Everyone has been super friendly and have truly made me feel welcome. I thank you all, or y'all as we say it in the southern US!

You're deaf? Wow. I gotta learn some sign language... After Nyle DiMarco won America's Next Top Model, I've been very interested And now you.. So many hotties I gotta talk to.

I joined because I came out about being gay about a month ago (feels amazing btw) and was looking for more people around my age to talk about it since the area I'm in isn't rich in gays and my school doesn't have any gay meeting social groups(GSA, LBGT clubs, ect.) I had second thought on whether the internet was the best place for looking for more people like me since it can be so shady but this forum looks like a pretty decent place and reading on it has DEFINITELY made me feel a lot better about my current situation and I hope to befriend some fellow gays:)

I was confused about my sexuality and didn't know the first thing about being gay or like where I could even just talk with people in a similar situation or just in general. The forum seemed fun, kind, and a good place to start.

Was there anything that made you not want to join?

I think just the intimidation that was mentioned in the first post in this thread with seeing people with thousands of posts, but these "veterans" so to speak have been very sweet so I'm not really intimidated anymore. It was also the whole being in the closet thing, but this site seems to understand that and I've been able to feel safe here.

What changes could we make to the site to make you feel more welcome as a new member?

I feel pretty welcome, everyone seems kind I would just suggest to new members to try to be as active as possible and use the chat feature as well. I think this tread was an awesome idea and would like to thank all of you for doing a great job

As I've mentioned once before, I had been a member on here before on a separate account, which I no longer have the details for. Probably the thing that pushed me back here was the fact that for the past few months I've become increasingly pre-occupied with worries about my health, which has left me probably more housebound than it should, but It causes me to want stay close to home. Hence, I spend a lot more time on my PC.

I go into the video chat from time-to-time and everyone there has been very nice. Unfortunately, I don't give that back most of the time I'm in the chat because I'm usually doing other things, and only contribute to the conversation every once in a while.

Okay, so I've been here a decent amount of time, so I reckon that I shall finally complete this.

What made you want to join in the first place?In the midst of not knowing any other queer people, I wanted to find others that were like me. It took a while to keep motivation after every forum that I've found just essentially being a sexting and/or hookup site, other than this.

Was there anything that made you not want to join? To be honest, and I know many love it, the theme of the site did put me off. If I recall correctly, it was something like 'Oh god, just another old crummy site.' However I have grown to love it, so I may even opt to keep this theme after it's updated to the newer theme. (which also cancels out this issue)

What changes could we make to the site to make you feel more welcome as a new member?The only thing I can think of which differs to any other place I've been on, is usually that upon joining, there's a PM waiting in your inbox immediately. Some like this, some don't. But since you asked, and I'm a fan of it, I think this is a nice addition. Usually they give a basic introduction to the features of the forum, and tips/tricks and links to various helpful forum threads, like the rules, etc.

After attempting to think of other ideas, I found myself pausing when thinking of the signature badges. I recall on one old forum I was a part of, they had an introductory activity, which if completed earned the user a badge for their signature. It contained various activities (all somewhat easy to complete) but it was a way of getting new members used to the forum quickly. Then the user would post a link as proof in their post. Examples of what could be used for this forum, could be things such as:-> Make an introduction thread.-> Give a user some advice.-> Participate in a forum game.-> Edit your profile, add an avatar and write something in your signature.->Start your own blog.

Essentially they're different activities which would help the new member get used to the forum, how it works and all the different aspects of it.

Hi.. I'm new here, and really tho, I've never been in a forum before, so I don't really know how to do this. I can't say where I come from, but I'm Asian, so.. sorry if my English is bad, like real bad.

So.. I think I'm gonna start with answering the guidelines.

What made you want to join in the first place?I've never met anyone gay before, and I'm really insecure about myself. I told some friends of mine that I'm gay, but none of them really understands me; some of them asked me "Have you tried liking girls?", like they want to change me or something. I just want to be accepted, but where I come from, people don't really accept homosexuality. I can't come out to my parents since I know they despise gays and maybe it's because my family is Catholic.SO.. I've been dilly-dallying about my life, but I haven't really answered the question. Lately, I've been feeling suicidal. I've been searching online on how to kill myself easily and painlessly, but I'm scared to die, even tho I feel like having no purpose to live. I googled "gay community for teenager" and I found this site. So I thought "Why not?". I just need support and some motivation, because I really need some guidance especially from people who had the same experience as I am having right now. And maybe.. I might just run into someone special.. haha..

Was there anything that made you not want to join?Yes, probably just anxiety, but I really want to explore the vast world of people who are the same as me. Wow.. that line was cheesy... Sorry for that.

What changes could we make to the site to make you feel more welcome as a new member?I don't really have anything to say about the site. I'm new to this kind of thing, you know.. talking with people online.

So... yep that's about it. Pleased to meet you all, I hope we can be friends

I found this place wonderful out of all the other forum's present out there (Much of Research Done, Hehe). I went through some posts and found the teens here to be really good here and I will have fun here.

Was there anything that made you not want to join?

To be honest, the site had quiet outdated look, but hope you guys make it look better to attract even more teens out there!

Well, I wanted to join because I thought it may be a good place to find friends, since people here seem so nice (even with a little sass ) I don't really have lots of friends overall and I think here it might be easier to find some.

The only thing that made me think of not registering here is my own shyness. Maybe not so much a shyness as an anxiety, sometimes I just struggle to even write anything to anybody, but I think I can try to improve it here